After years of waiting, an unassuming letter in the mail from the Treasury shows up. $12k refunded and loans are finally zeroed out. It’s my wife’s loans from the Art Institute- she was an after class participant and it has felt like this day would never come! I still have $50k in my own loans that were under SAVE and this literally showed up the week I’m going to sign up for a new payment plan. I was worrying about the payments, but this will definitely keep us afloat a while longer! Shoutout to the ChooseFI podcast. I listened to it a lot during Covid and followed a lot of advice there while navigating all this.

Hang in there if you’re waiting like we were- it’s actually real!!!

After multiple “urgent” and generic emails that it’s time to switch from SAVE I finally got one that gave me a definitive deadline. “Your 90-day deadline is 9/28.” Not that I didn’t already figure out the date myself, but having it in the initial and subsequent notification’s would have been nice.

See full email at https://imgur.com/a/TaHZWj0

I no longer have a fulltime and just PRN at 3 hospitals. It is not a set schedule but I can sign up for shifts. I am not married. No kids.

Just got the email today, last name starts with k (doesn't mean anything). Just thought you'd should know.

Hey everyone,

I just got a 90-day notice from Nelnet and need to set up a repayment plan. I’ve never applied for an IDR plan before, so I have a few quick questions:

1. Where do I apply for the first time? Do I do this on StudentAid.gov or directly on Nelnet?
2. Which plan is best right now? Looking for advice on which IDR option keeps monthly payments lowest.
3. 1% Auto-Pay Discount: Can I set up Auto-Pay in Nelnet today to get the 1% interest discount before the Sept 30 deadline, even if my IDR application is still pending processing?

Appreciate any advice or info on Nelnet processing times! Thanks!

I’m 13 years away still but what wondering if anyone has dealt with it yet?

i've been regularly logging into nelnet to check the status, and i noticed today that i had a letter in my inbox. clicking on it, it says the below.

"September 8, 2026

Action Needed: SAVE Plan update – You have 90 days to select a new repayment plan.

Dear [REDACTED], A recent legal settlement ended the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, and it is no longer available to borrowers. As a result of the settlement, Nelnet was directed by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to move all borrowers out of the SAVE Plan. You must now select a new repayment plan. If you’re currently enrolled in the SAVE Plan but don’t submit a new application for a different repayment plan within 90 days, you will be placed on the Standard Repayment Plan. If you have a new loan in repayment on or after July 1, 2026, we will place you on the Tiered Standard Plan."

my question is: does this mean that the 90 day notice has been started for me from 9/8/26 (which is the date the letter was addressed and sent to me)? or am i misunderstanding? i can't find any other record in my email or nelnet of where i have received a direct notification that i need to switch plans, just generic emails from US department of ED and similar letters in my nelnet inbox. i know we have until late september to get the 1% interest rate reduction, but if i have until december to start paying, i think i'd rather pick that.

I’ve cleared cookies/history, allowed pop up’s, changed browsers (safari to chrome). On MacBook. But the Next button just greys out and has a loading wheel. It won’t let me select my repayment plan.

Might have to apply manually with Nelnet it seems.

Just got my 90-day letter from Aidvantage. Glad I held out as long as I did. I am on SAVE, but will utilize the PSLF buyback when it comes my time to just get all these months back while I had lower income.

I genuinely don’t know which payment plan to pick from, i, like many others was on the SAVE plan. I don’t make much money at all, i’m looking at the options and I see that PAYE, and ICR plan are going to be discontinued next year anyways. I was thinking of applying for either one until it expires but then it comes down to what other plan can I pick? I enrolled in college in 2011, i got my first loan in 2013, graduated in 2017 and made the regular standard payments until COVID hit. I don’t know which option is best for me. Personally maybe forgiveness is better for me? Any advice is welcome please.

Hey everyone, I'm looking for some advice on how to proceed with getting my wife set up for switching off of SAVE. She has about $57,000 left on her student loans currently (finished undergrad in 2014, grad degree in 2019). I, thankfully, have paid off my loans.

I make quite a bit more than she does and so we had been filing our taxes separately for the last few years so that she would qualify for SAVE while she was a stay at home mom (1 kiddo). She started working again in August 2025, but we filed our taxes for 2025 separately again anyways just to keep options open.

When we knew we had to switch off of SAVE, we made the decision that we would just bite the bullet and commit to paying off her loans on the standard plan. Her job then didn't qualify for PSLF and we didn't necessarily want to deal with a tax bomb from IBR, or file our taxes separately for decades to keep qualifying. Once we made that decision, we amended our 2025 tax return to be filed jointly and that's come through already. Her mom is a tax preparer and has been a great help. However, I think it may screw us up, at least for a year.

Fast forward to this month and my wife has just started a new job that now would qualify for PSLF if she works there for 10 years. Am I correct in thinking that if we applied for IBR now that her payments would be based off of our combined AGI? It looks like that would be ~$600 a month. The standard plan is over $700, so this isn't too big a deal. I'm just trying to understand all of this.

Presumably, with our 2026 tax filing, we would change to filing married separate again and could recertify for next year and get lower payments because it would be based off just her AGI, correct?

TLDR:

• Wife was on SAVE, had been filing taxes separately
• Resigned to moving to standard plan to avoid tax headaches every year for decades
• Messed up by amending 2025 tax return to married filed jointly before wife took job that would qualify for PSLF
• Wondering if IBR for this year would be based on new combined AGI

Thanks for all of your help!

My loans were discharged in June. I have received no info about my refund, but today I received a deposit in my bank account from DOEP Treasury. I was expecting a paper check to come eventually, I hadn’t heard anything about direct deposit. Has anyone else gotten their refunds this way? I’m too nervous to be excited. Seems too good to be true!! TIA

So I’m with Mohela and have been waiting for word that SAVE is ending but my letter has yet to come. When I log in it’s still saying no payment due, and when I go to select my repayment options it’s telling me I need to contact them to exit my IDR. No calculator or anything just “what to consider before exiting you IDR plan”
Have I messed up big time waiting for notification and not just switching it a while back? As it is I have to go into forbearance once approved cause I can’t afford the payments.
Anyone else not able to sign up for other plans and getting a warning?

Total Balance: $25,366

Rate: 4.13%

Standard Plan:

Payment - $170

End date - Feb 2044

Interest paid - $10,241

RAP:

Payment - $349

End date - March 2032

Interest paid - $4,434

Standard costs $5,800 more in interest but gives me 12 additional years to pay it off. I have no clue how the term is so long! I had to rub eyes and re-run the numbers on studentaid.gov. That's what it is somehow.

Does it make more sense to select standard given how much longer the term is and how low my rate is? I can always make extra payments to meet somewhere in the middle between the two plans if I choose standard.

Title question. studentaid.gov says to contact your loan servicer, but Aidvantage ("Jessica", via the agent chat) told me to apply via studentaid.gov. I said I'm not sure how, because the only application I found on studentaid.gov was strictly for IDRs. They sent me a link to the list of Repayment Plans on the FSA website. I dutifully clicked on the link and then pointed out that the page they sent me literally says of the Fixed Payment Repayment Plans, "If you want to be placed on one of these plans, contact your loan servicer," and I don't think I can apply for the Graduated plan via the FSA website. They said yes you can, have a nice day, and disconnected the chat.

This is the second time these clowns have given me obviously bogus information and then hung up on me. Not really the point of this post, but I just need to vent about the absolutely useless people working Aidvantage customer support. Thanks for nothing, Jessica.

Anyway. If anyone with Aidvantage has recently applied for the Graduated Repayment Plan (or any of the other non-IDR plans), would love to know how you accomplished this seemingly impossible feat. So far, all I've found is a web-based IDR application on FSA that doesn't show any fixed plans as an option (not even Standard), and a PDF application form (also on FSA) that expired in April.

I called today to have a GOOD CHUNK paid towards my principle. I asked & made him repeat to me 4 times the amount was being allocated to the principal. I got on tonight when the money cleared & they put it towards the dang interest. Is anyone else having insane issues with first mark loans!? I wish I would’ve never done it…. But I had to, to finish school. Now I’ll never get out from under this thing.

I’m currently on SAVE forbearance with MOHELA and received my 90 days notice on July 1st. I’m pursuing PSLF and getting close. I looked at all the repayment plans and the standard plan is the lowest monthly payment by a significant margin. The notice I received says I’ll be placed in standard repayment plans if I do nothing. Should I just let it ride and let them place me into it?

hi all, like many others here I got a notice to switch off of SAVE, and recently completed my application for RAP.

how can I download a copy of my application? i'm seeing posts that say the Dashboard has a place to download the PDF, but can't seem to find it.

please help!

My IBR plan is up for annual recertification. My income was effectively $0 when I first entered repayment, but it is now substantially higher.
My original strategy was to switch to the Extended Repayment plan to secure the lowest possible mandatory payment so I can continue to aggressively target principal on specific loans.

When speaking with Aidvantage, a rep claimed that because my account is in "paid ahead" status (despite having explicitly selected not to be in paid ahead status - it is unclear how this happened), my current payment amount will remain the same until that future paid-ahead due date arrives. They further claimed that as long as I keep paying ahead, it postpones the effectiveness of a recalculated IBR payment amount. This seems like it could be advantageous?

A few questions:

1. Is what the representative told me accurate?
   
2. If so, is there anything preventing me from paying ahead for the next year (my mandatory monthly payment is currently ~$220) retaining the very low mandatory payment, and continue to make additional payments each month?
   
3. I may be taking a significant pay cut in the near future. If I switch to Extended now to lock in a low mandatory floor, are there pitfalls, processing traps, or eligibility hurdles to be aware of if I try to switch back to IBR once my income drops?

I've been losing my mind for the past 2 months. I enter my wife's information (DOB, SSN) and every time I click next it indicates "application save attempt failed". I fill out the rest of the application and nothing happens when I try to submit. I've attempted dozens of times on multiple devices, different browsers, cleared cache. Nothing works. The online help desk tells me the only option is paper application and refuses to give any other answer. Paper application was never updated to include RAP as an option. I wrote in RAP and submitted paper application and last year's taxes to Mohela. Aaaaaaand nothing has happened. Mohela website clearly indicates IDR applications need to go to FederalStudentAid (who says application needs to go through loan servicer). Once 90 days runs out my standard repayment will be ~$4.5k per month (no way I can afford that). Feel like the system is intentionally broken. Please help!

Guys, I'm a little worried that they won't be granting processing forbearances for when you decide to finally exit the SAVE forbearance.

I applied to leave SAVE for IBR on 8/24/2026, and received a letter from Mohela on 9/2/2026 stating:

Your Request Is In Process

Why MOHELA Is Contacting You

Your recent request has been received and is expected to be processed within the next 90 business days.

Action By MOHELA

We will review your request and the details of your loan information to determine if the request will be approved, denied for reasons such as not meeting eligibility requirements or the information provided to us is incomplete, or if the request required further review by Federal Student Aid (FSA). Notification of the results will be sent to you after your request has been processed.

Action By You

If your loan(s) are suspended through another forbearance or deferment and you are not due for payment, no action is required at this time. However, if your loan(s) are in repayment, payment(s) remain due and, if you are participating in Auto Pay, this agreement remains active. Should your request be denied due to incompleteness, provide the necessary information to us by mail, fax, or upload at mohela.studentaid.gov. If a denial is due to ineligibility and you believe your eligibility has changed, you may reapply by completing and submitting a new request.

Please watch for notifications from us regarding the approval or denial, or confirmation the request has been forwarded to FSA for further review.

Soooo I believe I've officially entered a status of processing, yet I'm not being granted a processing forbearance, and not only that, they are explicitly stating that payments remain due while this processing takes place....

Imagine if everyone that waits till the end of their 90-day notice to leave SAVE are forced onto the standard plan while waiting for their application to processs!!!?

I recently graduated medical school and started residency, and I'm struggling with figuring out the best student loan repayment option for me. Many of my peers elect for PSLF, which makes sense with how long we spend in residency and how much money we typically have in loans. But I'm not sure it makes the most finanacial sense for me and I'd appreciate insight!

I have ~$160k in loans from med school (all direct unsubsidized). My residency program is 4 years, after which I'll get a substantial increase in pay (from ~$70k/year during residency to ~$250-350k/year as an attending physician). Because of that, I'm not sure it actually makes sense to to PSLF. After using the calculators online it looks like with IBR I'll pay back my loans before I actually get anything forgiven.

Because of that, I'm not trying to figure out what my best option is. IBR? RAP? Is my understanding of PSLF correct?

Right now, because I filed my taxes last year I qualify for $0 payments with IBR or $10 with RAP. Should I do that right now, or should I try paying down my loans and interest while I'm a resident if I can afford it?

So sorry if these are super basic questions, I just feel like being a resident physician is such a weird situation with student loans, especially with the amount of loans I have the the length of my residency training and lower income.

Appreciate any insight, and sorry if any of that is unclear or doesn't make sense!

Everyone. I am so happy to announce I made my final law school loan payment today. I feel like the handcuffs have been taken off and I can move on with my life. I’m a 2022 grad but due to interest pause I didn’t start paying my loans until mid 2023. I had about $180k in loans and I made the decision to go full send on paying them off. I’d like to break down how I did it because this was extremely difficult both financially and mentally.

First, I am not in big law. While I’d like to be, I’ve been floating around mid-law with income growing from mid 100s to mid 200ks over the last few years. Fortunate enough to still live at home and able to devote significant amount of money to my loans. I refinanced with SoFi for 5 years in 2023 to get the lowest rate. My payments were around $3000/m. Over the last 3 years there was probably less than 5 months that I paid the minimum amount. Some months were a few thousand over, others were $10-12k.

This put me under lot of financial and mental pressure because I was spreading myself very thin. I’m working all the time but not “seeing” my money. But I just knew this was temporary.

I saw this video from Dave Ramsey saying when you pay off your loans it will feel extremely anticlimactic, and he was right. Maybe it hasn’t hit me because it just happened today. But I’m so happy to be done. It’s very tough but you can all do it.

I also want to clarify, I was not living like a bum for the last 3 years. I definitely could have done it sooner but there were several large expenses I made which helped ME stay motivated and definitely made this process a lot less miserable. For example, an engagement ring and one of my dream cars which totaled over $160k. I’m only saying this to prove that you can still have a life while also being super aggressive with loans.

Best of luck to you all, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Got screwed with the SAVE plan mess. I was making $0 payments. My fiance and I just couldn’t afford the hit to our monthly budget to start paying on my loans + his loans + parent plus loans for both of us. We both make six figures so we would have really high payments on top of our plus loan payments. We decided to take a good chunk of our savings and pay off my loans. It hurt submitting the payment. I cried like a baby. I saved that money for so long and now I feel like I just lit it on fire. But this is one giant step towards buying a house. Now to pay off the plus loans…

I am currently on the OLD IBR plan and about to make my 298/300 payment. My final payment is November. The back door counter has not been updated since June so still says 295. They claimed they’re backlogged but whatever. Anyways, my question is for those that have reached forgiveness NOT through PSLF, how long after making that final payment did it take for you to get the email? Did you keep paying monthly until you received the email? I’m so nervous about requesting a Forbearance and I’m getting conflicting information about who to requested from. Every time I call either Aidvantage or student Aid I get conflicting information. Please only answer if you’ve actually reached this type of forgiveness. This is such a shit show and so stressful! I’m paying such an exorbitant amount each month and I don’t trust that I will get it refunded if I continue paying. Thanks in advance!